Can the past be repeated?
by the-leather-jacket
Summary: Katherine wakes up as a human.


Katherine opened her eyes, taking the biggest breath she had ever taken in her whole long life and coughed blood. She looked around at the empty school hallway wondering what she was doing there.

Then, she remembered. At first, she thought it was her own blood in her hand, but seconds later the picture of Elena on the floor pushing the cure into her mouth sent a panic wave through her body. _No, that's impossible, _she thought.

She felt her arms and legs really weak like she had just woken up from a lot of decades sleep. Katherine felt a pressure in her ear as a sign for her limited now hearing. She got up feeling like her body was somebody else's. The girl shook her head in denial and touched her teeth with one hand looking for her fangs. _Nothing was there. _

Katherine realized she had forgotten how it was like to be human, weak and vulnerable to people, diseases and death. There were a dozen of things she had lost as a vampire and now that she was human…

_Human. _The word hit her inside her stomach like a hammer. A sick feeling she couldn't avoid that made her feel like she had traveled back in time, the days she was just an innocent girl living with her parents in their village. Her mind was unable to conceive the idea of being a mortal again.

The only way to survive 'till she turned into a vampire somehow was to pretend she was still one. Maybe she would manage to trick people into believing she was her dangerous old self. Herself minutes ago. Except from those who _knew. _She bet the last pieces of confidence she had that Elena had told everyone.

With the corner of her eye, she thought she caught a shadow moving between the classrooms. Her heart start beating faster and faster every second. She hated every part of it, every inch of her body that was experiencing the human fear. Her breath was becoming heavier with every sound, but then the shadow stopped and looked at her questioning.

"Elijah", she said confused about the way she felt when she saw his face; surprised, happy or scared?

"Hello, Katerina", he said with the exact tone in his voice he always had when he was talking to her. A brief pause, then he asked. "Is something wrong?"

"No, everything's fine", she said trying to look calm and fierce when inside she was screaming _I'm human! I can't believe I'm human!_

"You look…different", he said tilting his head a little to one side. Elijah narrowed his eyes observing her reaction to his words.

Katherine swallowed and lifted her chin. "What are you doing here? You made clear you would never come back for me again", she said remembering the moment he told her "goodbye". It was obvious he cared about her, but she couldn't understand why he didn't try harder for them. Maybe he didn't want to be with her after all.

"I want you to tell me what's going on right now", he said softly, but the girl recognized something else in his deep voice. When did he begin to demand? She would rather die than tell him that her worst nightmare had come alive.

"I had a fight with Elena. She ran for her life before I could kill her", she told him thinking she sounded really pissed. It didn't matter; it would cover the truth she was hiding.

"I brought something as an apology for leaving you…I believe we can give it a chance, can't we?" he asked and his eyes had that shine Katherine loved to see.

She smiled. A nervous, fake one. Under normal circumstances, her heart would skip a beat and she would take a step closer to him and kiss him passionate on the lips. Not now, though.

Elijah raised his hand with a bloodbag and gave it to her. "I don't drink from bloodbags. You know that", she told him and took a small breath making an attempt not to panic.

"Of course", he said smiling. "Samantha, come out, please", he said looking at his left. A blonde girl walked from the hallway and stopped in front of the noble man, no expression on her face. "Here. Eat and let's go out to talk".

Katherine thought she was going to cry. She wouldn't let herself, not for all the diamonds in the world. _I can't drink blood anymore. I hate blood. It smells sickness and rotten bodies._

She looked at the girl who was waiting -not willingly- for the vampire to bite her. She could easily imagine herself ripping the girl's neck with her teeth and drinking the delicious red juice. Even though she was human, a part of her still felt like a vampire.

Watching her hesitate with shaking lips, he approached her and touched her cheek with his palm. Katherine wasn't sure what Elijah was feeling. He had a blank expression on his face. He was looking at her, but not _seeing her. _His mind was running, a thousand thoughts inside. He finally came back to present time. "Katerina Petrova, are you human?" he asked strictly.

Katherine turned her head to the right, avoiding his eyes. She didn't say anything. She was suddenly feeling embarrassed for what she was; a useless mortal girl with her power for control now gone.

Elijah took her face in his hands and made her look at him. His eyes were soft and warm like he was looking at the old Katherine Pierce, the girl he had fallen in love with. He caressed her hair and mouth before he kissed her sending a bittersweet feeling in her tongue. "I've missed you so much, Katerina", he said.


End file.
